Bernie Madoff

Celebrity "sin"

• On Dec. 11, 2008, Mr. Madoff was arrested at his Manhattan home by federal agents and charged in a 20-year Ponzi scheme that was the largest fraud in Wall Street history.
• On March 12, 2009, Mr. Madoff pleaded guilty to all the federal charges filed against him — 11 felony counts, including securities fraud, money laundering and perjury.
• The federal district court in Manhattan imposed a term of 150 years on Mr. Madoff.
• The total cash losses in the fraud at $20 billion. People filed more than 1,000 lawsuits seeking nearly $100 billion in damages and fictional profits.

Celebrity background

• He was the chairman of Bernard L. Madoff Investment Securities LLC from 1960 to his arrest in 2008.
• He was a very well respected investor.
• The firm was one of the top market maker businesses on Wall Streetwhich bypassed "specialist" firms by directly executing orders over the counter from retail brokers.
• One of the top Wall Street investors with billions invested.

Backlash

• Bernie Madoff's journey to jail has had a lot of fallout, including effects on wealth managers who now have a new dynamic on their hands: scared clients with shrinking assets who've also lost faith in the wealth management profession.
• The public got another reason to dislike the millionaires on wallstreet, billions of dollars were lost in this Ponzi Scheme.
• He had multiple lawsuits over Billions of lost dollars and was sentenced to life sentence in jail (about 150 years).
• Judge Denny Chin sentenced disgraced financier Bernard Madoff to 150 years in prison on Monday. In his decision, the judge dismissed Madoff's lawyer's plea for a lighter sentence of 12 years and disputed suggestions that the victims in the fraud were seeking mob vengeance. "The fraud here was staggering" and losses from the scam "off the chart," he said, justifying a sentence that sends a message.

Public perception

• Most people did not trust wall street to start with and this event cemented that opinion.
• Bernie Madoff became the "face" for all of the financial industry.
• People look at wall street with a negative light.
• People look at Madoff as "evil".
• Public Perception led to kid committing suicide.
  • Bernard Madoff’s son Mark was found dead in the living room of his SoHo apartment this morning — hanging from a black dog leash on the two-year anniversary of his father’s stunning downfall, officials said.
• Bernie Madoff and Wife attempted suicide.
• His wife reveals that she and her husband, disgraced financier Bernie Madoff, tried to commit suicide with an overdose of Ambien on Christmas Eve in 2008.

Repercussions

• 150 years in prison
• completely disgraced by public
• son committed suicide
• destroyed reputation of financial industry

Aftermath (reintegration back into society?)

• He is in jail and family and business is disgraced
• No chance at reintegration into society

Sources: Magazine or Newspaper; Website and/or blog; Youtube video/interview; Personal interviews (minimum 2: expert and friend/family)

http://www.zimbio.com/Bernard+Madoff/articles/oKb8-lb67C7/Opalesque+Exclusive+Hedge+funds+still+fight
http://www.nypost.com/p/news/local/manhattan/bernie_madoff_son_andrew_found_dead_41QZ5xHZ2Ifq2IBmRtZgLK
http://www.mediaite.com/tv/bernie-and-ruth-madoff-suicide-attempt-we-decided-to-kill-ourselves/
http://www.americanbanker.com/btn/22_6/-380019-1.html
http://www.time.com/time/business/article/0,8599,1907677,00.html
http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/people/m/bernard_l_madoff/index.html

Notes/Recent findings (add to this AT LEAST every time your group meets)

• Madoff is now in jail at the Metropolitan Corrections Center, very near the Federal courthouse building where he made his plea.
• And he is now known as inmate #61727054.
• The center is a high rise building run by the Federal Bureau of Prisons.

Letter assigned for conclusion
MLA Sources
Questions for Ms. Lewis

Interview Questions:

1. How much do you know about what Bernie Madoff did?

2. Do you think that Bernie Madoff deserved to get a life sentence for his actions? He was given a 150 year jail term.

3. Would you trust a private investor on Wall Street with your money after what Madoff did?

4. Do you place all the blame on Madoff for what happened, or do you think some of the blame goes on the government for failing to regulate Wall Street well enough?






First Part: Celebrity Background, What was he like before his scandal?

• Bernie Madoff married his wife Ruth Alpern in 1959 and had two kids, Mark and Andrew, both born in the 1960's.
• Bernie Madoff took over as chairman of Bernard L. Madoff Investment Securities in 1960.
• The firm started as a penny stock trader with $5,000 and eventually his business was extremely successful pulling in Billions of dollars of investments.
• Madoff Investment Securities grew famous for its reliable annual returns of 10 percent or more and, by the 1980s, his firm handled up to 5 percent of the trading on the New York Stock Exchange.
• The firm was one of the largest market maker businesses on Wall Street. Because of this he was able to bypass some regulations that smaller firms could not bypass.

Second Part: Celebrity Sin

• When his sons found out that he planned to give out several million dollars in bonuses they demanded to know where the money was coming from.
• Madoff then admitted to his sons that his firm was actually an Ponzi scheme. His sons then called the police and reported him.
• In Dec , 2008, Mr. Madoff was arrested at his Manhattan home by federal agents and charged in a 20-year Ponzi scheme that was the largest fraud in Wall Street history.
• Madoff admitted to investigators that he had lost $50 billion of his investors' money.
• On March 12, 2009, Mr. Madoff pleaded guilty to all the federal charges filed against him, 11 felony counts, including securities fraud, money laundering and perjury.
• The judge over the case stated "The fraud here was staggering" and losses from the scam "off the chart," and gave him the maximum possible sentence of 150 years in prison with no chance at parole for 120 years.

Third Part: Public Perception

• Bernie Madoff became the "face" for all of the financial industry after his ponzi scheme became public.
• He gave the public another reason to dislike wallstreet, and billions of dollars were lost due to his Scheme.
• Most people did not trust wall street to start with and this event cemented that opinion.
• People look now at wall street with a negative light and look at Madoff as an "evil" and psychotic person.
• The harsh public opinion about Madoff led to the suicide of one of his children.
  • Madoff’s son Mark was found dead in the living room of his apartment having hung himself on the two-year anniversary of his father’s stunning downfall.
• His wife later revealed that she and Madoff, attempted to commit suicide with an overdose of prescription medication on Christmas Eve in 2008.

INTERVIEW (Personal) Here

Fourth Part: Repercussions

• Madoff was sentenced to 150 years in prison for his crimes.
• His family has been damaged beyond repair and his name has been disgraced with many of the worst to go down in history.
• His scheme costs hundreds of people billions of dollars and he also lost his son, wife, and reputation in the process.
• In an Interview Madoff when asked "Was it worth it?" about his Ponzi Scheme Madoff replied "I destroyed a legacy that was created by my brother and sons that took 50 years to build. Nothing could be worth this.”

Fifth Part: Aftermath

Interview from Internet Here

• Madoff is facing a life sentence with no parole and has zero chance at reintegration into society.

Sixth Part: Scarlet Letter

• The scarlet letter we would choose for Bernie Madoff with be an "F" for Fraud (and for failure).
• He stole billions of dollars from investors and destroyed the lives of many people by taking away their money.
• Many of the investments lost were supposed to go to charities and other good causes.